Science of Love
by sakurastarberry
Summary: Sasuke believed in facts. He considered things to be experiments. He observed people like they were organisms. Sakura was an anomaly. "Love doesn't exist Sakura. It's just there to ensure the survival of a species." "You won't find faith and hope down a microscope, Sasuke." Involves discussion of biochemistry and psychology. Please review. Quotes based on "Science and Faith" song.
1. Science versus Love

EDIT: August 7, 2012. Some changes to this chapter.

Prompt: Journey

Warning(s): It's fiction. Some info may be inaccurate.

Notes: Happy Birthday, Sasuke-kun~

Story starts _in medias res_, meaning that it starts at about the midpoint of the story and uses flashbacks to give the backstory.

Part 1 of ?

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to its owners. "Science and Faith" is a song by The Script.

-S-

_"It's simple evolution, Sakura. You're attracted to me because I have qualities a mate should have. I'm attractive, athletic, and wealthy. There's no such thing as love."_

_Slap!_

_"You won't find faith or hope down a microscope. You can break everything down to chemicals but you can't explain a love like ours, Sasuke."_

-S-

"…Sakura."

He sat up in bed and touched his cheek, the phantom sting of a slap still lingered even as he escaped his dream. No, it wasn't a dream; it was a nightmare that haunted him even in his waking hours. The blanket lay at the foot of the bed, half of it dangling onto the floor. His feet touched the soft carpet as he stood to stretch. In just a little over a minute, he had already folded the blanket and fixed his pillows. Even with the air conditioner turned on, it was still too warm to sleep under the overstuffed maroon comforter.

He picked up his phone. The lock screen was a close up picture of a smiling Sakura, as snowflakes drifted down around her. He cropped the picture for his lock screen but he remembered every detail of that day. She wore her favorite short red coat covering her white sweater dress with black skinny jeans, her matching red earmuffs, gloves, and suede boots. The soft strawberry blonde of her hair and sparkling green eyes amidst the background of untouched fields of snow and tall, bare trees made her look like a snow fairy. The tip of his thumb traced the small smile on her lips. Sakura had laughed and smiled as she played in the snow, but even then her smiles weren't as bright, the laughter sounded hollow.

He stopped himself from remembering any more moments of that day. There was an important lab today he had to focus on.

4:27 am

Monday, July 23

1 new message from Dobe

"Happy Birthday, Sasuke-teme! I know you don't have class tomorrow. Party at your apartment later!"

_Today's my birthday._

-S- FLASHBACK –S-

They met freshman year.

Principles of Chemistry

The lab was set up for groups of three. Naruto sat on his left and there was a vacant seat on his right. Behind them sat Hyuuga, Aburame, and Inuzuka.

He looked up from checking their supply cabinet as a girl walked by him.

"Sakura-san! I thought you weren't able to sign up for this class."

"Hi! Yeah, it was full, but someone dropped out. The registrar called me yesterday and asked if I still wanted to take it."

She was facing away from him. Her hair fell a few inches down her back. It was a peculiar shade. He had never seen a strawberry blonde so pale it was almost cherry blossom pink. He heard Hyuuga talking to her and realized her name was _Sakura_, just like her hair. Then, Naruto left their table and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Sakura-chan! I thought you didn't like chemistry."

She shrugged his arm off.

"It's not that I don't like it. I'm just not very good at math."

Both Aburame and Inuzuka greeted her too. He turned back to his inspection of materials, blocking out their conversation. The idiot tugged on his elbow, interrupting him.

"What." he complained as he checked the beakers for any cracks, a slight scowl. He wanted to make sure they had everything before class started.

"Sakura-chan, this is Sasuke. He's been my best friend since before we were born! Sasuke, this is Sakura-chan. She's from my mom's hometown, Whirlpool. "

"Yes, I remember. You always talk about him. Nice to meet you, Uchiha-san."

He turned to face her and held out his hand for a customary handshake. His upbringing guided his movements. He had to tilt his head down slightly to look her directly in the eyes. Her eyebrows were exactly the same shade as her hair, her eyelashes slightly darker. Her vibrant green eyes contrasted well with her hair. She was lightly tanned with a small frame. He estimated her height to be only 2 or 3 inches above 5 feet since the top of her head would not even reach his collarbone. She wore a thick neon blue button-down sweater, a red shirt underneath, and bright pink skinny jeans.

She was a splash of color amidst the shiny black tabletops and painted white walls.

-S-

A/N:

1) I was inspired by the song "Science and Faith" by the Script. I've always wanted to do a story like this. I imagine that Sasuke would have this very grounded view of the world. He's not much of a believer. Things have to be fact. He approached things as experiments and observed and analyzed people like they were specimens. A cold genius type. This is his "Journey" (SasuSaku month day 23) to believe in love again.

2) They're in college. I made up a bunch of things: the names of the classes, the procedures for example.

3) EDIT: This has been revised. The only change is how Sakura and Sasuke meet. Initially, they're all supposed to meet at college. I made Sasuke and Naruto best friends since infancy instead. Sakura is from Whirlpool. Whirlpool is Kushina Uzumaki's hometown. The college is in Konoha. Sasuke and Naruto live there but they decided to live in a dorm. Sakura grew up in Whirlpool but Konoha is her family's home.

Sakura visits Konoha every summer. Naruto visits Whirlpool every summer. That's why Sakura and Sasuke haven't met yet. They only know each other because Naruto is the mutual friend.

And, it doesn't matter if you didn't read the Author's Note. All this will be explained in future chapters. Stay tuned for Chapter 3!


	2. Oxytocin

Title: Science of Love

Summary: See chapter 1

Rating: T

Prompt: Commitment

Warning(s): I am not an expert in emotional psychology. Actually, I'm not an expert in any field of psychology.

Notes: Sasuke and Sakura talk about the biochemistry of emotions. I did research on this.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to its owners. Apple products belong to Apple.

-S-

He found her in the library.

Naruto (_idiot)_ thought it would be fun to take Sasuke's phone from his backpack and give it to the pink-haired girl from Lab.

Sasuke only realized it was gone long after class ended. During class, he placed his phone in his backpack to avoid distraction. Strangely, there was no buzzing sound. Around dinnertime, he always received a missed call with voicemail and a text from his mother. Even though his parents were currently traveling, his mother kept track of time zone differences and made sure to check on her son's eating habits.

She slumped down on a wooden chair at one of the round tables in a corner of the library beside the windows. Her face was hidden by her arms and the folded up sweater she used as a pillow for her head. She was the only person he knew with the odd hair color. No doubt it was she. At first she looked to be asleep, but as he approached her with light footfalls, he saw that one arm was stretched out, fingers tapping on the table and the other bent, clutching a white cellphone.

She mumbled, "Ino, did you bring me hot chocolate?"

"You have something of mine," he said quietly, to avoid disturbing the other students.

"Sasuke-kun, hi! Sorry, I thought you were Ino. She left to get snacks." She raised her head and sat up, her back stiff in the uncomfortable wooden chair.

"Did you happen to find a black iPhone in your bag?" he asked, ignoring her greeting. She still seemed confused.

"Sakura." He addressed her solely by first name not bothering with honorifics. There was a light blush on her cheeks and she looked away from him. Wasn't she the one that had called him by his given name first?

"Why would your phone be in my bag? It can barely fit mine, see?" She removed the folded and revealed a small black leather wristlet with a tiny Pokémon keychain. Years of being dragged into stores by his mother ensured that he, unfortunately, knew the names of handbags and shoes.

Bzz. Bzz. BZZZZZ.

It was the unmistakable buzzing of a phone set to vibrate.

He saw Sakura glance at the phone in her hand, but it was clearly not the source. But he was already looking down on the floor at her backpack. She hurriedly unzipped the main compartment while he crouched down and checked the smaller Velcro-closure pocket at the front.

Sakura found the phone in the little pocket built-in for mp3 players. Thankfully, Naruto had enough sense to put his phone in a semi-safe place that would prevent it from being crushed by Sakura's thick, hardcover textbooks.

As Sakura handed him the phone, the picture of his mother was still on display, but ended up a missed call just as it reached his outstretched hand. It was long enough for Sakura to have gotten a good look at it though. She was still staring at the screen that had 7 missed calls and 12 unread text messages. All from "Mikoto Uchiha."

"I didn't steal it. I don't know how your phone ended up in my bag, " she pleaded.

"I know."

He pulled out the chair next to hers and sat down. He looked around to make sure they were still alone. Before he could even unlock his phone, his mother was already calling again.

"Hello, mother."

"Sasuke-chan! Are you ok? Oh, I was so worried. Fugaku said that maybe you lost your phone, but you never lose things. And it never takes you over half an hour to return a call." He was certain Sakura could hear his mother's frantic voice even as she turned away and opened a book. It was better that she did listen, and then she would know the circumstances.

"I'm fine. Idiot Naruto stole my phone during lab."

His mother's worried tone rapidly subsided, replaced by giggles. Not good.

"Oh? Did you bribe him with ramen to get it back? Please don't tell me you punched him in the stomach again."

"No, I kicked him."

"Sasuke!"

"We were on the same soccer team mother, he's had worse injuries."

"Why do boys always play rough? So, why did he take your phone?"

"To cause inconvenience to others." He answered vaguely.

"What do you mean?" Of course, his mother had to ask for an explanation.

"He hid it in an unsuspecting classmate's backpack."

"Naru-chan gave your phone to a stranger?" His mother sounded puzzled. Even though the boys played pranks on each other, Naruto would have given the phone to a friend, to ensure that Sasuke would eventually get it back.

"An acquaintance. A friend of Naruto's."

"You're purposely being vague. It's a girl isn't it? What's her name? Is she single?"

"Mother, I'm in the library. I'll call you later."

"OHMYGOSH. She's there isn't she? Sasuke-"

Sasuke quickly hung up the phone and discreetly shoved it into one of the lower pockets in his navy blue cargo pants. The girl was still pretending not to look at him. Instead, she had taken out a notebook and a pen. Yet, the page she rested her pen on only had a handful of words written.

He was about to politely dismiss himself, when his phone buzzed again. It was his mother again. The 12 messages from before the call were waiting to be read. Two more had appeared on his lock screen. He unlocked it and skimmed through the various "Why aren't you answering?" inquiries and arrived at the latest messages.

Mother

7:03 PM

It's rude to hang up on your mother. Even if there is a pretty girl nearby.

Did you eat dinner? Remember to drink a full bottle of water and not just sports drinks.

He ignored the reprimand and instead replied with a simple: I will. Thanks.

He was about to make his exit when the blonde twins again foiled his attempt. The two claimed that they weren't related, but Sasuke was wary to believe it.

"Sakura, I bought you a hazelnut hot chocolate! …And… What brings you here, Sasuke-_kun?_" Yamanaka greeted with a voice saturated with sugar that was loud enough for heads to turn their way and for them to get reminders to be quiet.

Naruto was right behind her, the smile on his face widening to reach his ears when he spotted the phone in his Sasuke's hands. "Hi, Sakura-chan. Hey Sasuke, since you found your phone, I get to have my coffee pot back right?"

"Hi, Ino, Naruto. Thanks, even though you owed me anyway. And I didn't know you liked coffee that much."

"I drink it sometimes, but I use it to make ramen."

"How do you make ramen with a coffee pot?" Both Sakura and Yamanaka looked absolutely bewildered. They missed his slight eye roll. Clearly, Naruto was the only one desperate enough to make ramen with a coffeemaker.

"Just put the noodles in the carafe and the seasoning in the filter. Then-" The enthusiasm was drowned out by Yamanaka's more vocal proclamation that blatantly ignored all the SILENCE posters staring at her.

"Don't care! So… what are you two doing together?" She plopped herself down on the seat next to Sakura's and Naruto took the last seat by Sasuke's side. Naruto seemed a bit miffed but let the issue go for the moment.

Sasuke shook his head at the blatant staring of the idiotic blonde twins. He turned to Sakura to give her a quick nod of acknowledgement before standing to leave.

"Wait! Sasuke, you can't leave yet. You gotta help me with my project or I'll fail!" Naruto had dropped down to his knees and gripped Sasuke's pants.

"Do your own homework." He contemplated kicking Naruto in the face, but his shoes were new.

Naruto had twisted his face into a puppy dog look, but to Sasuke he only looked like a disfigured mutt with constipation. "I'll tell Auntie you kicked me. And you know she doesn't like bullies."

"It's a group project, Uchiha-sama, me too please~~~" Yamanaka had added with her own trademark pouty lips. It worked for many others but not for him.

Sasuke's only response was a glare that clearly stated: Not gonna happen.

"You can't let your best friend fail," he attempted. Then his face lit up with a mischievous grin, "Auntie won't like it and you won't get a new ride."

Darn. His mother was typically a pleasant woman that loved to spoil her children, but she was adamant on her stance against motorcycles. She would deem this as a sign of "recklessness" and lock his bank account. His father would, of course, follow her every whim. Even though he personally liked motorcycles, he only rode them in the vast, empty-of-other-vehicles-countryside.

Sakura had remained silent during the exchange. Actually, she wasn't even paying attention. She was sitting next to him taking notes with two books opened in front of her. He wondered how she managed to block out the two loudmouths.

With a defeated sigh, but a promise of revenge at a later time, Sasuke managed to get Naruto away from him and they both sat back down. "Fine, but you have to clean up your mess in the living room."

-S-

"Iruka-sensei said to research 'two types of animals with genetic variations causing different social behaviors.' We searched it but there were so many results and none of what we were looking for."

Sasuke paused to think about it. It seemed like a project on evolution. Most of his knowledge on the subject was about physical traits. Still, genetics caused the different physical traits. What factors could cause different social behaviors? A likely candidate was the brain.

"You could talk about mating patterns. Animals with different physical traits have different social behaviors." Sakura suggested. She put aside her work when Yamanaka began explaining the project.

"But Iruka-sensei already said we can't use rabbits and penguins. It has to be 'similar species.' So picky!" she whined. But that was useful information, for once.

Sakura's suggestion led him down the right path.

"No, she's right. It has to do with oxytocin."

A/N:

1) Uh... I'll be going back to Chapter 1 and changing a few things I think. Initially, I wanted them all to meet at college, but I've decided that Naruto and Sasuke have been friends since childhood. Their parents are friends too. (We've actually seen some evidence of this in the manga. Mikoto and Kushina meet and talk about their sons, hoping they'd become friends.)

2) And I'm not sure what suffix Mikoto uses to refer to Sasuke. You can correct me in the reviews.

3) As for the others, I haven't decided yet. It shouldn't affect the story too much.

4) More on the biochemistry in future chapters. I've already taken notes on the research though. Future scenes have already been written. The above is a flashback prior to Sakura and Sasuke becoming boyfriend and girlfriend.

5) Yes, you can make ramen with a coffee pot. I was doing research about how Naruto can make ramen in a dorm, and it turns out one of the easiest ways is using a coffee maker. I haven't tried this, so I don't know what it would taste like. Search it.

6) I tried to write this with Sasuke's POV and I can't imagine him saying "darn."

That was intentionally substituted for the other curse word that begins with a letter "d" because somehow I can't type it.

7) Chapter 1 will be edited prior to uploading chapter 3.


	3. Commitment

Title: Oxytocin

Rating: T

Prompt: Commitment (part 2)

Warning(s): I am not an expert in emotional psychology. Actually, I'm not an expert in any field of psychology. Mild language.

Notes: The characters talk about the biochemistry of emotions. I did research on this.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to its owners. Apple does not belong to me.

-S-

"That drug that gets released when-" Ino started.

But was stopped by Sakura's horrified reprimand, "Ino, you pig! You shouldn't talk about that when so many people can hear."

"You have to get over this. We're not in middle school anymore!"

SLAM! A thick, atlas-sized animal encyclopedia was placed in front of them.

Sakura hastily closed her mouth when she realized that Sasuke had purposely slammed a book right in front of them.

(1) "Oxytocin is released during intercourse _and _is related to maternal behavior," he paused to open a book and pointed to pictures of small, furry rodents. "They have varying amounts of something."

"Of what?" Naruto seemed confused.

"I'm not doing your research for you."

"Please?" Ino tried, batting her eyelashes and trying to charm Sasuke. But of course, her magical charms did not stand a chance against Sasuke's walls of ice.

"Keep asking and I'll cite you for honor code violation." That was enough to prevent any more attempts. He stood and left.

"Ino, I know you're smart. Figure it out. Shikamaru's habits are contagious. I should go." Sakura also stood to leave.

Ino finally looked at the opened book to see pictures of rats.

"Ew! He's deliberately making me miserable. Rats are so repulsive," she complained, wincing as she pushed the book towards Naruto with the eraser end of a pencil.

"It says they're voles, not rats. There's a montane vole and a prairie vole. That's it! He really was helping. He gave us the two animals!" The grin on Naruto's face was rapidly reaching the goofy level.

Ino decided to temporarily set aside her disgust for the sake of her grades. For a shopping trip to Italy, she would look at rats. Just don't ask her to come anywhere near them. She pulled the book closer to her, not too close, but close enough to be able to read the text.

"…And Sasuke said that Sakura-chan was right. What did she say again?"

"She said something about mating patterns," Ino explained. She rummaged through her tote bag and took out an iPad.

**_(2) The Prairie Vole_**

l _Life mates_

l _Care for each other_

l _Possessive and protective males_

**_(3) The Montane Vole_**

l _Shows more 'promiscuity'_

l _'Less exclusive'_

There was a scraping of a wooden chair as Naruto moved closer to see the screen.

"'Less exclusive' means the montane voles are players?" He asked incredulously. That was unexpected. Then again, he didn't spend his time thinking about animal mating practices. What did he expect? Perhaps too many cartoons starring animal families led him to certain preconceived notions.

(4)"The difference is in the level of oxytocin. There's more oxytocin in prairie voles," she paused, briefly, to ponder this. _Could you make someone stop cheating by giving them oxytocin then? If that were possible, the divorce rate would be much lower._ She continued to read: "It says here that 'prairie voles' brains have many more receptors that are stimulated by oxytocin.' So, just increasing the amount of oxytocin like we do with dopamine and serotonin won't work."

The puzzled look on Naruto's face faded away. He seemed to have been asking the same questions. As he thought about it more, the confusion returned and he carefully asked, "Does that mean oxytocin can make people fall in love?"

(5)"No, I don't think so. It says here that it's more related to altruistic and affectionate social interaction."

"Well, that's good. I'm glad Iruka-sensei took pity on us. With all this info, we can reach a thousand words." Naruto was visibly relieved. They had procrastinated on the project and it was due the next day. He turned on his laptop.

"We can do this!" They said in unison.

-S-

When Sakura exited the library building and turned left, she hadn't expected Sasuke to be leaning against a nearby tree. He appeared to be looking at her, expecting something. She walked over to him.

"Sorry about your phone, Sasuke-kun." She tried.

"It wasn't your fault." Okay, so that wasn't it.

"Are you waiting for Naruto? They're working on the paper now. I doubt they'll be able to finish in less than an hour." The scowl on his face was enough to figure out his answer. That still didn't explain why he was just standing there. Maybe he liked to relax in the shade of a tree. Yeah, that's probably it.

"Guess not! Hahaha. Well… uh… bye!" It was an awkward farewell, but it was an awkward situation so it fit. She turned away from him and continued towards the parking lot.

"Sakura, the cafeteria is this way." She turned around to see him already headed to the shortcut path.

But… she was going home to eat dinner. Did he just tell her to go to dinner?

She hurriedly speed-walked after him when she realized he was already close to twenty feet away. Fortunately, he slowed down.

When she caught up to him, she cautiously asked, "…Did you just invite me to dinner?"

"It's not a date." Figures. Of course he would immediately make that clear. "It's for giving me my phone back."

"But I didn't even know I had it. How would it be-"

He cut her off, "Don't be annoying, Sakura."

Well, that was rude. But he held the door open for her, and he was offering her dinner. That was more than enough to compensate for the brief rudeness.

A/N:

That was a lot of psych stuff up there. Hope I didn't lose the readers. I plan to explain the concept in more detail in another chapter. Feel free to ask questions in the review or private message. I'll do my best to answer. (Also, this lets me know which parts need more explanation.)

However, I only used one reference for the statements quoted above. I marked them with numbers (1-5).

Here's the works cited in MLA format:

Scott, Neil, and Sandi Mann. "Love's Emotions." _This Book Has Feelings: Adventures in Instinct and Emotion_. New York: Quid Publishing and Fall River Press, 2009. 63-79. Print.

This chapter uses the prompt "Commitment" because apparently, oxytocin has a role in mating habits. Prairie voles are more likely to be committed to a single partner.

Sorry it's a short chapter. I've been busy. But at least it reaches 1k words!


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